Coronavirus Pandemic and the Stock Market Crash

A brief look at the month of March 2020

It has been widely agreed that the year 2020 has been quite tumultuous right from the beginning. From the onset, the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic has captured the news. Along with that, wildfires erupting in Australia and climate change have all caused enough panic among the citizens of the world. Both January and February have been a cause for concern for the global community. As a result, no one had really expected that the coming month of March would be any different. March began with bad news on all quarters and the global news was dominated by the spread of Coronavirus. All major events and festive occasions for the month were canceled and the world has been united in this major crisis.

March comes to a standstill

The month of March has been dubbed the worst ever with the disease spreading at an alarming rate, causing terrifying stock market crash, global recession and a global panic. In short, the world has come to a screeching halt this month with a number of countries across the world declaring an emergency and ordering its citizens to stay indoors. Let us take a look at some of the important events that took place this month.

• March 5th: On March 5th, the International Criminal Court authorized for the investigation of War Crimes in Afghanistan to proceed, making it the first time that the US would be investigated for such an event.
• March 8th: On March 8th, the rapid spread of Coronavirus in Italy, caused panic, forcing the government to place nearly a quarter of its population in quarantine.
• March 9th: The stock markets see a sharp fall, its steepest fall since 1991, as a result of the spread of the Coronavirus pandemic and external factors like a price war between Saudi Arabia and Russia.
• March 11th: After ending days of speculation, the WHO declares Coronavirus a pandemic.
• March 12th: The stock markets witness its worst ever crash since 1987’s Black Monday.
• March 13-14: The Government of Nepal closes Mt. Everest for climbers over coronavirus concerns and the next day, Spain goes into lock-down after COVID-19 cases in the country surge.
• March 16th: The Dow Jones Industrial Average (DJIA) falls by 2,997.10 points, its single largest crash since the Great Depression of 1929 and the single largest point drop in history.
• March 17th: Iran warns of a global catastrophe after more than 90% of Middle East’s Coronavirus victims are reported from here. Europe cancels all events including league football matches. Euro-vision Song Contest is canceled.
• March 20th: The world death-toll passes 10,000 as the total cases crosses a quarter million globally.
• March 23rd: Ten nations across the globe come together to find a cure for the virus. These include Switzerland, France, Norway, Spain, Argentina, Canada, Iran, Thailand, Bahrain and South Africa forming the union of SOLIDARITY. India goes into lock-down, causing its population of more than 1 billion to stay indoors for 21 days.
• March 24th: The International Olympic Committee postpones the 2020 summer Olympics and Paralympics, the first event since World War to cause a disruption to the games.
• March 26th: The global death-toll for the Coronavirus pandemic crosses 23,000 with more than 500,000 affected by the disease. A third mas coral bleaching takes place at the Great Barrier Reef, causing a respite in the global panic over Coronavirus
• March 27th: The first global event to not be a direct effect of the Coronavirus pandemic occurs in March with North Macedonia joining the NATO
• March 30th: Spain surpasses China in the number of Coronavirus deaths with more than 7,340 deaths reported in the country. The price of Brent Crude oil also falls to $23 per barrel, its lowest since November 2020.

A month dominated by Coronavirus

One look at the events that have happened in March is enough to cause concern in the world. The month of March is usually a time of festivals and sporting events with summer dominating India. But March 2020 has been the darkest the world has seen since World War II. The saddest aspect of this is that the cause for such a worry is not man-made but a deadly disease that has caused more than 50,000 deaths across the world. Not since the Spanish Influenza of 1918 has a disease been such a major cause of concern for people around the globe. One hopes that the world finds a lasting solution to this absolutely major crisis before the situation becomes even more deadly than it has.